WHOI geochemist Jeff Seewald (green shirt) and biologist Stefan Sievert douse NBC “Today Show” host Ann Curry in icy seawater after her first Alvin dive. In addition to the traditional “baptism,” other initiation rites include freezing the first-time diver’s sneakers or filling them with whipped cream. New Alvin pilots are sometimes soaked in a mud bath after their first dives. On October 18, 2008, Curry joined Seewald and Alvin pilot Bruce Strickrott for a National Science Foundation-funded dive to study microbes in the Guaymas Basin. In 44 years, 2,511 different people have made at least one dive in the submersible.
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